Fragrance Advertisement

Fragrance adverts convince consumers of the product value through the dramatic visual, hearing, even through olfactory expressions which elicit consumers' emotional reaction, for scents are notoriously difficult to describe or evoke through language. Hence, fragrance adverts package "experiences" which seem to go beyond words and encourage the consumers to complete such experiences by using the products.

Hypnotic and persuasive techniques that most fragrance adverts adopt:

Wannabe Appeal
Mike Featherstone, a consumer culture scholar, indicates that individuals become role players and self-consciously monitor their performance in order to identify themselves. Appearance, gestures, and bodily demeanor become taken as expressions of self. Unsurprisingly, fragrance advertisement grabs the idea of "self-performance" and provides ideal images (stereotypes) of the masculine and feminine characteristics for individuals to follow.

Female wannabes portrayed in fragrance ads:

Classical Beauty One who is fair-skinned, acts gracefully, and dresses modestly without excessive accessories.

The Girl Next Door One who is sweet, spirited, and fond of outdoor activities.

The Sexy One whose facial expression and gesture invoke the erotic sensation.

The Smart One who is chic and adapts fashion into her personality. Usually one who takes a devil-may-care attitude toward everything.

Male wannabes portrayed in Fragrance ads:

The Sporty One who likes adventures and is energetic and athletic.


The Sexy One who is muscular and gives erotic feelings through his facial expression and gesture.


The Chic One who is stylish and lives an urban life e.g. yuppies.

The Family Man One devoted to his family.

Animations
Animation technique is primarily to reach the young target e.g. teenagers. Fantasies, dreams, and wonders captivate the viewers, believing that the products do have magical powers. Cartoon techniques range from full animations to characters rotoscoped in combination with the reality.



Scent Strip
Perfume advertising has bee greatly aided by the invention of scent stripes which will release their odor when scratched. The invention enables perfumes to advertise themselves directly through smell.
















Music
Music is powerful emotional shorthand. It can tell the viewers how to feel by evoking feelings- of joy, of love, of fear. The music ranges from popular to classic music. The music can be effective if it enhances the core idea of the product.

One of Chanel's perfumes, Coco Mademoiselle, adapts Nat King Cole's song called LOVE, which is performed by Joss Stone in the ad. The viewers are likely to be captivated by the background music since the lyrics invoke the romantic feeling between a lover and the beloved.

Reference
Routiedge Group Ltd, The Body: Critical Concept in Sociology (1 edition 28 Aug 2003), Andrew Blaikie, Aberdeen University Body Group, "The body in Consumer of Culture"(part 2)

A content Analysis of Male and Female cosmetics Advertisements in Magazines, Shu-fan Shui, Ching-wen Hsu, Institute of Communication Studies, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

written by Rachel